re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict.

When the Tomahawk was first developed, terrain mapping and image recognition was a major technological feat. Now, a good cellphone has the visual and computer power to do it. It was only a matter of time. It's scary.


Martians' in Ukraine war zone - 'Invisible to detectors'

quote:

---

Russian forces are expressing terror over a new type of Ukrainian killer drones they call “Martians”. Vladimir Putin’s fighters say they cannot track the unmanned aircraft which are also invulnerable to electronic warfare interference.

Reports allege the Ukrainian drones operate without GPS, using an optical odometry system from NASA’s Martian helicopters and Qualcomm chips. The new type of AI-driven UAV has alarmed Russian military bloggers who are both fearful and envious of its capabilities. One of the bloggers said: "At the final stage of the attack, the drone turns off communication and becomes fully autonomous. It compares images from its cameras with a pre-loaded map of heights and terrain in real time. This makes the drone invisible to detectors and invulnerable to electronic warfare systems."

---

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2191671/putins-forces-terrorised-martian-drones-ukraine

quote:

---

using an optical odometry system from NASA’s Martian helicopters and Qualcomm chips.

---

But we aren't doing enough for them, guys! Basically ended all assistance I was told.

Ukraine is really starting to get its act together in drone warfare. Their technology is advancing quickly, and it's starting to have an impact on the battlefield. There is a lot of Russian chatter about the widening gap in capabilities.

I read an article somewhere today about a new Ukrainian super drone that, at its terminal stage, became autonomous and immune to EW. The Ukrainians are innovating in both manufacturing and combat tactics.

They have invested heavily in drone manufacturing capabilities and they are now churning them out by the thousand.

What we haven't seen any real footage of is drone swarming. I've seen a lot of video taken from a spotter drone as an FPV attacked, but I haven't seen 50 drones in the air in the same frame yet. Has anyone else?

Oh yeah, that famous Ukrainian corruption is out of control. EU application review committee, take note.

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

quote:

---

Russia is facing growing problems maintaining its Antonov aircraft fleet, primarily due to a lack of spare parts and no access to Ukrainian design bureaus, components, and support.

Just this winter, An-22 broke apart mid-air during a flight after fresh repairs killing all its crew, while a recent An-26 crash in Crimea resulted in a death of 29 people on board including a general and other high ranking personnel.

The issue affects the entire fleet, including civilian Antonov aircraft, last summer, a passenger An-24 crashed due to technical failures, killing all 48 people on board.

On 31 March 2026, a Russian An-26 military transport crashed during a routine flight over occupied Crimea, killing all 29 people on board, including Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Otroshchenko, commander of the Northern Fleet’s Mixed Aviation Corps.

To understand the full scale of the crisis, according to internal correspondence from Russia’s “Aviarmont” to Rostec, as of August 2025, around 368 An-series aircraft were in service with 143 already requiring major repairs and without urgent measures, all repairs will become impossible in 18–24 months.

For a full breakdown of the scale of the problem Russia faces maintaining its Antonov aircraft fleet and how it leads to incidents, the article is worth reading:

---

quote:

---

The problem is not just lack of spare parts, but counterfeit ones. The Ruffian Il-76 military transport fleet was grounded when half a dozen were found to have sub-par ball-bearings not fit for purpose, acquired from - ah - 'other sources'.

---

Maintained to Fail: Russia’s Military Aircraft Crisis in Its Own Words

Such a shame.

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

quote:

---

When we aren't seeing video of something it's either not happening or those videos are being scrubbed so the enemy can't use them. We've had the latter happen multiple times just in this conflict where once the Russians more or less figured out something you started to see more about it on social media because the cat was out of the bag. Probably the case here too.

---

I suspect you are correct on this observation.

The Russians recently tried a large-scale mechanized assault that got wiped out by an onslaught of drones. I saw a lot of individual hits, but nothing showing the overall volume of drones in the air, which, as described by the Russians, was overwhelming and relentless.

Russia is still fighting the last war while Ukraine is learning how to fight the next war.

quote:

---

Russia is still fighting the last war while Ukraine is learning how to fight the next war.

---

Yes, and in addition to their hardware, their battlefield management software "Delta" continues to evolve. The article that includes the graphic below is a little out of date. Delta System

LINK

Russia has exchanged the bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for 41 Russians

quote:

---

What we haven't seen any real footage of is drone swarming. I've seen a lot of video taken from a spotter drone as an FPV attacked, but I haven't seen 50 drones in the air in the same frame yet. Has anyone else

---

Yeah, it seems that they've both lacked the manufacturing capabilities up to this point and haven't required it based on the Russian outdated Soviet-era "Probe and attack" strategy. Now that the Brits, Germans, Gulf States and corporations are starting to pour money into the Ukrainian programs this is going to change, quickly.

It's amazing - This war has two actors in it.

One has a state-of-the art technology culture developing the latest killer drones and robots in the world, using a Silicon Valley-esq approach employing a garage-to-battlefield model that would make Steve Jobs jealous and is forcing a world-wide pivot away from previous manned weapons platforms and towards unmanned arial assaults that are videoed in real time and evidence of its work is uploaded immediately to a worldwide audience.

The other side shows off its donkeys.

This administration has backed the war donkey people.